South Sudan Begins Screening Foreigners

South Sudan authorities have started screening all foreign nationals to identify those living illegally, the Minister of Information said.

12 January 2019

Information Minister, Michael Makuei [Photo|Ojwe Lumara]

By Ojwe Lumara

JUBA, 11 January 2019 [Gurtong]-The exercise is meant to register and to ascertain the number of foreigners. Those who will be found with no valid documents will be deported to their country of origins at the end of the three-month exercise.

The move came after the interior minister ordered the police to carry on the exercise to nab foreign nationals some of whom he accused of being involved in committing crimes.

Information Minister, Michael Makuei warned some of the government’s top officials against protecting foreigners from the ongoing registration exercise.

“It is reported that there are some big shots that are even protecting the registration of some of these foreigners,” Michael Makuei, the National Information Minister told the press after the regular Council of Ministers meeting on Friday.

“Anybody who has his foreigners and he wants to protect them, that is not good and it is not for his interest,” Makuei added.

Police spokesperson Maj. Gen. Daniel Justin Boulo Achor said all the six screening sites in Juba had started screening foreigners on Tuesday. Screening centres have also been established in all the States.

The police spokesperson also said that the security organs have not started arresting or asking foreigners on the street to produce their documents but hinted that a massive operation will be carried out to verify status of foreigners at the end of the three months.

“I am appealing to our brothers and sisters from the neighboring countries here in Juba that this is the process to legalize their status in the country so that they stay peacefully. So I urge them to come to the centers to register and finish the needed process,” Maj. Gen. Daniel urged the foreigners.

He said a special force has been formed to monitor the process to ensure it is run successfully without malpractices.

Maj. Gen. Daniel called on South Sudanese landlords to inform their foreign clients to go to the nearest screening sites for registration to avoid inconveniencies during the time of crack down.